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We all knew Shadow of the Erdtree would be difficult, but some players never expected it to be this difficult. In the first days after release, the Elden Ring expansion got hit with review bombs specifically calling out the extreme difficulty in the Realm of Shadows. And those players aren’t wrong – no matter what level you are, the first few hours in the DLC might be the toughest in the entire Souls series. And lucky for all of us, there are ways to make the expansion area so much easier.
If you’re struggling to overcome the impossible challenge of Shadow of the Erdtree, we’re putting together every tip and trick that’ll make your journey easier. Sadly, none of these tricks will actually make your game easy. Even cheating won’t work. What these tips will do is help you finally overcome without mastering the main game. We’re hardly experts when it comes to Elden Ring, but with a few changes to your playstyle, some bosses can go from impossible to beatable. And we’ll start with a tip that’ll make one of the hardest bosses in the entire series a total pushover.
#10 Used Ranged Weapons on Bayle
We’re going to assume you know about earning levels, enhancing weapons and boosting your Equip Load for the fastest possible dodge rolls. Those are the most basic strategies for survival in Elden Ring – and you’ll want to be at least Level 120 with 40 levels in vigor before attempting the Realm of Shadow. We’ve talked about all that, so let’s start with something more specific.
Early in the expansion, if you follow the path down the Dragon’s Pit optional dungeon and explore the Jagged Peak, you’ll encounter one of the most difficult bosses in the game. Bayle the Dread is a giant dragon that kicks our butts consistently. To make Bayle easier, you’ll need to change your strategy. Switching tactics turns one of the most difficult bosses in the game into a pushover. To bring him down, all you need are ranged weapons.
You can use giant bows or spells, but our favorite is the spear. The Spear of the Impaler, Messmer’s boss weapon, is one of the best for fighting Bayle – and for a very good reason. Hitting Bayle on the body deals negligible damage, but hitting his head really drains his health bar. Striking his head is almost impossible if you’re a standard knight, but if you’re throwing explosive spears, scoring those headshots is so much easier. Make sure to defeat the two drakes on the Jagged Peak path to unlock Igon as a buddy – this NPC coordinator will keep Bayle distracted while you pelt his head with ranged attacks, making one of the hardest fights pretty easy for even the poorest players. And if you fully charge your Spear of the Impaler throws you’ll deal extra damage-over-time. The charged spear explodes and leaves behind a burning patch of fire that sticks to Bayle’s face.
You won’t want to kill Bayle too early in the DLC. We actually recommend saving him for last, because there’s a different benefit you can score for almost every boss – the Ancient Dragon’s Blessing.
#9 Get the Ancient Dragon’s Blessing
Along with the Scadutree Fragments – which you really need to find as many as you can – there’s another blessing that literally only makes you tougher. By traveling south from the Jagged Peaks area, you’ll find an enormous dragon corpse. Near the corpse, there’s a glowing bowl and a Dragon Priestess to talk to. By interacting with the Priestess and promising your devotion, she’ll give you a special renewable tool called the Ancient Dragon’s Blessing.
This Blessing gives your character a buff that lasts until death. You’ll gain resistances to literally every element – reducing damage – and it might do even more. We’re not totally sure of everything this useful item does. We just know it’s a great buff that’ll give you that little extra edge before fighting a boss. After a death, you’ll need to return to the Dragon Priestess to renew the Ancient Dragon’s Blessing. That’s a small price to pay for such a useful item. It doesn’t cost anything to renew, so it only costs you one quick teleportation trip.
Don’t kill Bayle too early. If you destroy Bayle the Dread, you’ll lose access to the Dragon Priestess and won’t be able to use this item. You’ll instead have to craft items with the same effect, but the tool isn’t free any more. Keep that in mind if you’re thinking about taking down Bayle. That boss can always wait.
#8 Use Easy Mode Mods
Let’s get all this out of the way. The best strategy for making Elden Ring easier is using mods. That’s the straight truth. Jump onto Nexus Mods and search for the word “easy” to see a list of mods specifically designed to make your experience so much easier. One of the best mods changes values so you deal more damage, have higher defense and earn more runes. Obviously, this only works if you’re on PC – and not all PC mods have been updated to work for Shadow of the Erdtree. Mods are being updated every day to work for the latest version, so keep searching and checking to see what’s available.
And you don’t even need boring mods to make the game easier. Mods like Eldendivers give you an inventory full of futuristic bombing runs and precision strikes you can call down to wipe out entire armies of enemies. Or you can play as Kratos and easily exterminate everything in the game with his overpowered armor and weapon loadout. Easy mods can be fun and broken at the same time.
#7 Collect Scadutree Fragments First
Other than using mods to blatantly cheat, the best way to survive in Shadow of the Erdtree is by collecting Scadutree Fragments. These rare items can be spent to upgrade your Blessing at any Site of Grace – and each level of blessing you unlock increases your damage and defense. Basically, they’re a flat upgrade that makes your character better. And you’ll need as many of these upgrades as possible. And most of the map can be explored without defeating any of the bosses, so you’re free to run around and grab all the Scadutree Fragments you can before really getting into the meat of the expansion.
You’ll find Scadutree Fragments on gold crosses – but they appear in plenty of other areas. They drop from Hippopotamus field bosses, appear as glowy rewards in random spots all over the environment, and a whole bunch can be found in the far north of the map. Later in the campaign, you’ll reach the Specimen Storehouse area. In the upper floors, look for a broken wall leading outside the tower. Following the lifts down, you’ll reach an optional boss called Commander Gaius. He’s a tough, boar-riding knight that’s a lot easier if you trick him into sprinting into the corners of the arena. Defeating him gives you access to the Scadutree View tower. There are five Scadutree Fragments here alone.
Really, if you’re really struggling to make any progress, you’ll want to go north to Castle Ensis. Defeat the boss and you’ll have essentially free reign over a majority of the map in the DLC. Take the high roads. Take the low roads. All the optional content is generally easier – until you run into the big bosses. The bosses are the roadblocks. Everything else is a cinch in comparison. Load up on Scadutree Fragments and seemingly impossible enemies will become pushovers after a few upgrades.
#6 Summoning Your New Best Friend
If you’re struggling to survive for long in the Realm of Shadow, you might want to bring a friend. The Mimic Tear Ash of War is still one of the best summons in the game – pair it with the right weapons and it can take down some bosses all by itself. Normal cooperators will increase the maximum health of bosses when they’re summoned. Not so with Ashes, and the Mimic Tear is just unstoppable, especially if you’ve been collecting Revered Spirit Ash items all over the environment. Like Scadutree Fragments, Revered Spirit Ash is used to upgrade a special blessing you’ll only find in the DLC. This enhances your Ash of War – and you’ll want all the upgrades you can get for the Mimic Tear.
To make your Mimic Tear even better, you’ll want to equip overpowered weapons like the Blasphemous Blade, Sacred Relic Sword, or the Bloodhound’s Fang. The Zamor Curved Sword is also one of the best – perfect for destroying Messmer and his Fire Knights in the Shadow Keep. Using any two OP weapons at the same time will make your mimic even stronger – and bring Faith spells to buff and heal. Anything you do that keeps your Mimic Tear friend alive longer will make boss fights easier. And you can summon to deal with weaker threats in Legacy Dungeons. Always watch out for that blue gate symbol in the lower-left of the screen and summon the Mimic Tear whenever it appears.
You can find the Mimic Tear Ash of War in the Night’s Sacred Ground, an underground field accessible from Nokron, Eternal City. Nokron unlocks after defeating Radahn and summoning a meteor to create a massive crater in Limgrave. Once you’re in the Night’s Sacred Ground area, look for a Stonesword Key door you can unlock. That leads to the best summon in the game.
#5 Talismans You Don’t Want To Miss
The best talismans in Elden Ring are all hidden in the Realm of Shadow – some increase your health and FP by the maximum, or boost your resistance more than anything else in the base game. Let’s go over a quick list of some of the best talismans you’ll want to seek out as early as possible. The best offer high resistance to elements you’ll encounter often in the expansion or just boost your stats. And don’t forget to progress in the main game and defeat Godrick to unlock the maximum four talisman slots.
Okay, here are the talismans we think are worth tracking down.
- Crimson Amber Medallion +3: Boosts your health by the utmost. Earned by defeating the Death Knight in the Fog Rift Catacombs.
- Viridian Amber Medallion +3: Boosts your stamina by the utmost. Found in the Darklight Catacombs – in the first area, activate the lights then walk on the narrow ledges. Reach the room above the exit lift and open the chest to get this talisman.
- Immunized Horn Charm +2: Boosts resistance to poison and Scarlet Rot. Incredibly useful for fighting Romina. Found by collecting the Well Depths Key in Belarut, Tower Settlement and using the key to unlock the door to the lower levels. Defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit in the poison swamp to get it.
- Flamedrake Talisman +3: Boosts fire damage negation. Found in Fort Reprimand, in the basement full of empty cages. Jump through the cage path to reach an optional area with this treasure.
- Golden Braid Talisman: Boosts faith damage negation. This is one of the trickiest to find – reach the chapel outside the Commander Gaius boss arena and use the ‘O Mother’ gesture to unlock the secret path. Go to the Shaman Village and search the hollow tree at the top to get this powerful talisman. It’s incredibly useful for the final boss fight.
There are many more useful talismans in the Realm of Shadow, but this is just a cross section of some of our favorites. Swap talismans during tough fights to give yourself the best possible chance. And one of the toughest fights is against Messmer the Impaler.
#4 Beating Messmer
One of the biggest roadblocks in the DLC is Messmer the Impaler. Found in the upper floors of the Specimen Storehouse area of the Shadow Keep, Messmer is a two-stage battle that’s wrecking most of us. To beat Messmer, you’ll want to prepare – and luckily we’ve already discussed some of the weapons and items you’ll need.
For this fight, you’ll want the Zamor Curved Sword if you’re a Strength / Dexterity Build. This weapon can quickly apply Frostbite to Messmer – you’ll find the sword by completing the Giant-Conquering Hero’s Grave in the Mountaintop of the Giants area from the base game. Messmer is fire-based, so dealing frost damage will bring him down faster. Equipping this sword will also cause your summoned Mimic Tear pal to use the skill. The Zamor Curved Sword skill generates a blast of magic ice that will instantly apply Frostbite. Enemies with Frostbite are slightly slower and take more damage when attacked.
In addition to using this sword and summoning the Mimic Tear, you can take the pressure off by summoning another cooperator NPC in the arena. Normally I wouldn’t recommend summoning an NPC – but Messmer is so fast and doesn’t have that much health. Having an extra NPC to distract him can be very useful. The summon sign is also pretty tricky to spot in the middle of battle. Ignore the flames and look for the glowing cooperator sign near the fog door.
Finally, you’ll want to collect the Flamedrake Talisman +3 to protect yourself from his many, many fire element attacks. We mentioned where to find that in the previous section, but we’ll state it again quickly here. You can get the talisman from Fort Reprimand by jumping through the cages in the basement area. That should be all the gear you really, really need to take down Messmer. And if you still can’t, go around and collect more Scadutree Fragments.
#3 Crush The Needle Knight Fight
We’re getting into spoiler territory now. At the very end of the DLC story, you’ll progress up a golden tower called Enir-Ilim. Before the final boss, you’ll encounter a swarm of NPCs in a big brawl, all summoned by Needle Knight Leda. You’ll enter the arena and new combatants will periodically join the fight – and it can be very difficult. If you haven’t finished any NPC quests, you won’t be able to summon allies. Before reaching this fight, I recommend finishing as many NPC quests as possible. All your NPC friends will appear here to help.
Even if you don’t have friends to summon, this fight isn’t too difficult with the right weapon. Like Bayle the Dread, this fight is broken completely by the Spear of the Impaler weapon. Create the spear with Messmer’s boss soul and the NPCs won’t stand a chance. Summon your Mimic Tear and let the enemies cluster up around your allies. Stay away from the fight and toss your explosive spears right into the melee. You can also use other busted weapons with ranged attacks – but you’ll definitely have access to the Spear of the Impaler by this point in the game. If you’re struggling with this fight, just use this weapon.
#2 Get Miquella’s Great Rune
Our last two tips are for the final boss – and for a very good reason. The final boss is crushing the hopes and dreams of Elden Ring players everywhere. This thing is so tough, you might think the battle is completely impossible. We’re going to spoil every aspect of this fight, so if you want to experience the final boss for yourself, turn away here. If you need help, the first thing you’ll want to do is collect Miquella’s Great Rune.
Miquella’s Great Rune is dropped by the Scadutree Avatar, an optional boss found north of the Shadow Keep. To find the Scadutree Avatar, lower the water in the Shadow Keep – Church District by going left (instead of right) in the flooded church statue room. When the water is low, you’ll be able to access an optional lift in the large church leading to the Scadutree Base. This is the closest you’ll ever get to the Scadutree itself – and the boss isn’t going down without a fight. You’ll need to kill the Scadutree Avatar three times before it finally dies and drops Miquella’s Great Rune.
Unfortunately, the rune is broken and seemingly useless. It actually does have a use – and this is where the spoilers begin. During the second phase of the battle against Radahn, Consort of Miquella at the top of the golden tower, Radahn gains a special grapple attack. This attack seemingly does nothing – Miquella will speak some words and then Radahn will put you down. But if you’re grappled a second time, you’ll lose the battle instantly.
To counter that ability, use the Miquella’s Great Rune after the first grapple. The broken rune cures you of the charm status effect and prevents an instant death. Most of Radahn’s attacks can kill you almost instantly, so making at least one of his attacks completely useless is a relief. Alternatively, just don’t get hugged by Radahn. That’s a lot easier said than done.
Beating the boss is a lot easier said than done. We can’t explain all of Radahn’s mechanics, but we can give general advice to increase your chances as much as possible.
#1 Beating The Final Boss
The final battle against Radahn, Chosen Consort is unfair in every sense of the word. You’re put at an extreme disadvantage, and unless you’ve leveled up your Shadow Realm Blessing to 15 or more than the boss can kill you in one or two hits. You’ll want to boost your physical and faith damage negation as high as possible – use some of the armor dropped after the Needle Knight Lede fight – and equip the Golden Braid Talisman for the best possible defense against Holy damage.
You’re better off staying close to Radahn during the battle to avoid his attacks. Dodge forward and through his magic – when he flies in the sky and throws gravity bolts, sprint toward him and dodge forward. When he summons a rain of holy magic, it only covers the area directly in front of him, allowing you to attack him from behind. Dodging through his sword swings is one of the easier steps of this fight, so you’re always safer staying close to him than making distance. You’ll quickly learn that he leaves his back exposed a lot more often – especially if you summon a Mimic Tear and pincer him, forcing him to face you or your ash buddy. If he has to turn 180 degrees away from you to fight your buddy, that only makes the fight easier.
We’d love to go into excruciating detail about this boss, because there’s so much to say, but one of the most important discoveries we made is extremely simple. Don’t summon NPC allies.Each cooperator you summon will increase Radahn’s health, and he already has an absurd amount of health. Summoning two NPCs will cause your attacks to barely scratch his seemingly limitless health bar. The only reason to summon cooperators is to practice this fight and keep him distracted so you can watch how his attacks work. Otherwise, they’re a huge liability. Radahn is so powerful he’ll very quickly kill your NPC allies but you’ll be stuck with a boss that has way, way more health. That math doesn’t add up.
You’re much better off fighting Radahn alone with your Mimic Tear Ash. These tips won’t make the Radahn fight easy – no tips possibly could – but they just might make him beatable. We went from thinking the battle might be totally impossible, to crushing him after we stopped summoning those NPC allies.
And that’s 10 tips for making Shadow of the Erdtree a tiny bit easier. This DLC will go down as one of the most brutal major game releases ever, so a few tips aren’t going to suddenly make this game easy. If we can move those goal posts slightly to make the expansion beatable instead of totally impossible, I think we’ve done our job.
